Kate Hamm

The Training Pastry gives Hamm’s cooking a first language of structure, timing, and finish. Bao Bao matters beside the later details: a house-made milk-bread bun for a fish sandwich, another milk bread bun for the Squidwich, and a Soft Serve Swirl built from sea salt vanilla and chocolate-sugar kelp. Before the Biddeford opening with Eckerson, the path also ran through extensive experience cooking in several regions of the country, a broad apprenticeship by movement rather than a single named school. That training arrives without showiness. It shows up in the way a bun is made in-house, in the way tartar sauce is described as bright rather than heavy, and in the choice to make familiar formats carry specific ingredients.

The Lineage The line Hamm draws is less about hierarchy than inheritance: pastry discipline feeding seafood cookery, regional experience meeting the products of a coastal place, and a shared opening with Jason Eckerson becoming the branch that matters most in Biddeford. At the center is a classic fish-and-chips format used to highlight Maine seafood. The sourcing reaches to Maine and New England, with a stated preference for more plentiful species, so the cooking is not only about what tastes right now but what can continue. Her own words make that inheritance explicit: "We love living in Maine, and want to preserve all of its goodness for future generations." The sentence is plain, almost domestic, and it gives the fried fish, chowder, sandwiches, and soft serve a larger frame: care for place expressed through daily choices.

The Table The signature work is direct and closely attended. The fish sandwich is made with a house-made milk-bread bun, bright tartar sauce, and beautifully breaded Maine fish; it carries pastry’s concern for bread into the center of a seafood menu. Fish Chowder takes a different route, built with clam stock, potato, bacon, rosemary, and thyme. The Squidwich puts fried Maine squid on a milk bread bun with lettuce and tartar sauce, while the Fish & Chips pairs fried Maine pollock with tartar sauce, lemon, and malt vinegar fries. Then comes the Soft Serve Swirl, sea salt vanilla folded with chocolate-sugar kelp. In that last detail, Hamm’s two visible traditions meet cleanly: the pastry chef’s frozen dessert and the coastal cook’s attention to the sea.

Signature

Kate's signature dishes include Fish Chowder, Squidwich, Fish & Chips, and Soft Serve Swirl.

In Their Words “We love living in Maine, and want to preserve all of its goodness for future generations.”

FAQ What is Kate Hamm's current role? As of 2026, Kate Hamm is Pastry Chef. What is Kate Hamm known for? Maine seafood, especially fish and chips and fish sandwiches. What recognition has Kate Hamm received? James Beard Award, Emerging Chef semifinalist (2025).